One Long Weekend 37 Days


One Long Weekend

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CLOCK CHIMES NINE O'CLOCK

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-Your Majesty.

-Your Majesty.

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French neutrality.

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Guaranteed.

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How did you manage that?

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I didn't, Your Majesty.

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Well, the Kaiser thinks you did.

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Did my cousin just dream it?

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It is likely a mistake was made during my telephone conversation

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with Prince Lichnowsky yesterday.

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The German ambassador misheard you?

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Possibly.

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Or you misled him?

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It hardly matters which, Your Majesty.

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The point the Kaiser is now holding the wrong end of a very big stick.

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One you handed to him.

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Certainly, it has landed us all in a most awkward spot.

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So, you would now like me to disabuse the Kaiser?

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We can arrange for a telegram to be sent

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to your cousin in the next 20 minutes.

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Before that happens, let me just ask the obvious question.

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We haven't, by some enormous stroke of luck, stumbled upon

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a formula that would actually keep the peace in western Europe?

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Not with the French being in complete ignorance of what is being offered.

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And they...?

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And they will never agree to neutrality

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while their Russian ally is being threatened by Germany.

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I see.

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I will tell the Kaiser there's been a...misunderstanding.

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"Misunderstanding."

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"Misunderstanding?!"

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What does that mean?

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It's such a British explanation. You tell me what it means.

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-I...

-It's Edward Grey isn't it? He's a deceitful cur!

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I forget sometimes that the English language doesn't distinguish

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between 'duplicity' and 'diplomacy.'

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"Misunderstanding?" What, "We've changed our minds?!"

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-I'm not sure that...

-Get me Moltke!

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-Sir, please...

-Get me Moltke!

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I've been made a fool of.

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And I am disgusted by that.

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Shake my hand.

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My good hand.

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The English are liars.

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Now you can do as you will.

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DOOR OPENS

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Have you had breakfast, sir?

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I don't think so.

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Might I arrange some for you?

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How long do you imagine the railway platforms are at Duern?

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An awful lot of German troop trains appear to be leaving Cologne...

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..and heading towards Duern.

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It makes no sense.

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'For four weeks now, ever since the assassination of Franz Ferdinand...'

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SHOTS FIRED

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'..we, in Europe, have been living with the Balkan crisis.

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'Serbia and its Russian ally raged against Austria and its German one.

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'Now, "When isn't the Balkans in crisis?" you might think.'

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-It's Bosnia, Foreign Secretary.

-I think THAT might wait.

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'Rain is wet,

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'the sun dries you out,

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'and the Balkans is a trouble spot.

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'These are facts of nature.'

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'In Berlin at first,

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'our Kaiser had been keen to stoke the fires in the Balkans.

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'He thought this might give our Russian neighbour a nasty burn.'

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A quick, clean war, over before the Russians know it's even begun!

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'So, it took the special genius of General Moltke to turn

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'a local conflict into an international crisis.

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'Moltke wasn't interested in a small war in the Balkans.'

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Can't be a powerful Russia

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and a powerful Germany on the same continent. One has to submit!

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'He wanted something much bigger.'

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He wants to declare war on France.

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'And that was when things began to change in London.

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'No longer were we bystanders.

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'We had an alliance with France.'

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Are you going to wait until France is violated before you act?

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'The Cabinet had no appetite for war, though,

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'and told the Foreign Secretary

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'to make sure the Balkan crisis didn't spread to the West.

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'And, so, Sir Edward used the telephone to broker some kind of

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'agreement with the German ambassador.'

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Sir Edward?

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'But...telephones, you know?

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'Things get scrambled, don't they? And, therefore, last night...'

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To England.

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'..the Kaiser gratefully accepted a peace plan from London

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'that didn't actually exist.

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'Hence the misunderstanding.

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'I won't deny it, there was a little bit of panic here

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'in the Foreign Office,

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'not least because the morning papers were reporting that a torrent

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'of capital and gold had flowed out of the country

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'over the last few days.'

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Chin up, Muriel.

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Come on, everyone. Busy day.

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'And that's why the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Walter Cunliffe...'

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Good to see you again.

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'..along with Lloyd George, the Chancellor,

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'had come to the Foreign Office

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'to persuade Sir Edward that it would be fatal to join the fray.'

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It's important the Foreign Secretary knows that if he gets us

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involved in a continental war, it WILL wreck the British economy.

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There will be a degree of commercial disruption, of course.

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-The economy will be wrecked.

-That's your opinion.

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It's the opinion of the Bank of England. And the whole of the City.

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There, David. The whole of the City(!)

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Over £1 million worth of gold left London on Thursday!

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To be fair, Walter,

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that's the German financial houses repatriating their capital.

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But we are vulnerable to that.

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-This is the whole point, we are a trading nation.

-We are(?)

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Our best policy would be to let the French and Germans go to war,

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if they need to. We could stay out and be the honest broker, literally.

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You want us to be the honest broker?

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You're making it sound like a crime, Sir Edward.

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Do you know Eyre Crowe here? Yes, of course you do.

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So you know he's an exceptionally knowledgeable fellow,

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and he tells me that in the entire history of mankind,

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there is not a single instance where financiers have not panicked

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at the prospect of a war. Isn't that so, Crowe?

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The Peloponnesian War...

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Yes, apart from the Peloponnesian War.

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So, you see, Sir Walter, I have this odd situation.

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Up in Trafalgar Square right now, I'm being told by Keir Hardie and

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the Socialists that a European war would mark the end of civilisation.

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And here I have a great banker of Threadneedle Street telling me

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-the same thing.

-I didn't mention civilisation.

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True enough, you didn't.

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I suppose that's where the Socialists have the moral edge.

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But I am not a hopeless dreamer like they are, so, excuse me

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if I take offence at that.

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I am giving you some practical common sense.

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So, you'd like me to announce

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to the world that Great Britain can't afford to fight?

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That's your common sense?

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-Now you're twisting...

-Nothing would more readily put an end

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to our great power status than ME saying THAT.

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HE SIGHS

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Have you ever seen Keir Hardie?

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Are you asking me because I'm Scottish?

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HE CHUCKLES

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No, I saw him once when I was a wee boy.

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My father took me to see him speak in Kirkcudbright.

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Is your father a socialist?

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You'll have to ask him yourself, Muriel.

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'Of course, in Britain,

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'the socialist movement was very small, still.

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'But that wasn't true here in Germany.

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'Here they counted.'

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The Chancellor is running a little late this morning.

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-I could organise some refreshments.

-No, thank you.

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'They had power in the Reichstag.

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'If the socialist deputies decide to vote against

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'the Imperial War Budget,

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'there'll be no war because there'll be no money to fight one.'

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Why don't you just arrest all these Socialists?

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The Kaiser wouldn't mind.

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The Kaiser has personally never met a socialist,

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which is a miraculous thing in itself,

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-given that there are six million of them in this country.

-Even so.

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-Even so?

-Remove their leaders and the rest will do as you want them to do.

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The days of running Germany

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like a house of correction are over, Moltke.

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These men outside are not our slaves.

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They're the cream of their class, and, as inconceivable

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as you may find it, they will vote for your war credits

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if you reason with them.

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I doubt it.

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They fear and detest the Tsar, as all their kind do.

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But they are not German patriots.

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They will be when you tell them about the Cossacks.

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Half of them are Jewish, after all.

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Tell me, because I really don't understand.

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Tell you what?

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I know you don't want a war with France.

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You could use these socialists to stop one. Why don't you?

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Because the cure would be worse than the disease.

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Can you imagine what would happen to Imperial Germany -

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to me, not just you -

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if word got out that the Socialist Democratic Party

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had a veto on our ability to make war?

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I hate them, every bit as much as you hate them.

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More, probably, because I know them.

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They are disloyal, they are selfish, and they are dangerous.

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But a war will tame them.

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Eventually, with some luck,

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it will exterminate socialism in Germany forever.

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Thank you so much for coming, gentlemen.

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BIG BEN CHIMES

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Ambassador.

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How many of your countrymen know that you secretly committed them

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to defending the French channel ports from naval attack by Germany?

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What you have there is, of course,

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rather awkward for me at the present moment.

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Yes, it is.

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But it is in no sense a binding contract.

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Just an informal arrangement we once had.

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An informal arrangement we once had?

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I cannot go one inch beyond what the Cabinet authorises.

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If I do, I am gone,

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and that document means nothing.

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If you do not act on our confidential agreement,

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you will have the German Navy

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in the English Channel by the end of the week.

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And you will have to explain to your people

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why there is no French Navy there to oppose them.

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In 20 minutes, there is a meeting of the Cabinet.

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I will endeavour to describe...

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-Your obligation to France.

-..the French predicament.

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PHONE RINGS

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They've just voted.

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We have a majority...

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..in favour of the war credits.

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Madness.

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They could have saved us.

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-John.

-Winston.

-Lord Morley.

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What bombs are you young gentlemen going to throw at us today?

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'When you think of the great Cabinet meetings of the 20th century,

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'those that have been, those which are yet to come,

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'can there ever have been one so fraught with meaning as this one?'

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'Viscount Morley had first seen office in 1886

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'under his hero William Gladstone.

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'And because he opposed anything which strengthened the state

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'against the individual, he opposed war.

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'So did John Burns, on pacifist grounds.

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'Burns, hero of the London Dock strike of '89,

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'was the first working man ever to take a seat at the Cabinet table.

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'Was he conscious of the fact?'

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So, I told him, "I'm not the decorator, I am a legislator."

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'Was he conscious of anything else?

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'And then there was David Lloyd George.

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'Lloyd George was the prize.'

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Did you get any sense this morning of which way David is moving?

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None at all.

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'A man who made his name opposing our last war

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'against the Boers in South Africa.'

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We want to play this carefully. We don't want to antagonise him.

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'He was a politician who was loved by millions of people.'

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We have, as you know, because I have never concealed this

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from the Cabinet, certain obligations towards our French ally.

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Now, these obligations do not commit us to war simply because

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one of the parties to the agreement has taken up arms.

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Should France, say, find itself in a war with Spain,

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we would not be obliged to follow.

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Do not treat us like fools, Sir Edward. You can say Germany.

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Yes, yes, well, in this specific instance, of course

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we're talking about Germany.

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But my general point is that Parliament need not be fettered

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by a clause in a treaty she had no hand in making.

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-And nor will it.

-Hear, hear.

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But I will tell this Cabinet now, because now for the first time

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it has become relevant, that our 1912 agreement with France...

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-1904.

-No, Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary

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is referring to its renewal in 1912.

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It was minuted at the time and mentioned in this room.

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The 1912 renewal is a document I drew up with Monsieur Cambon,

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which allowed us to divide certain operational responsibilities

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between the French and Royal Navies.

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In this agreement, the French were assigned the Mediterranean,

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and we agreed to secure the Channel.

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The advantage of this agreement is obvious, but the disadvantage,

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as Monsieur Cambon is now very anxious to point out,

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is that it leaves the Atlantic and Channel coasts of France

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completely unprotected by battleships.

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Or would do so if we failed to join in a war

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that Germany was waging on France.

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You mean the French are relying on us to protect their ports?

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In a sense, yes.

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There's no escaping it. It is an unfortunate situation.

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Our agreement with France

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has all the obligations of a formal alliance.

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-No, it doesn't!

-But it does, gentlemen.

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Think of it from the point of honour.

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Edward Grey's honour! Not ours!

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I hope they are the same.

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The French agreement has all the obligations of a formal alliance,

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but none of its advantages. That is to say it contains no deterrent

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to any power thinking of attacking France.

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How could it? The agreement was secret.

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If only the Germans had known about this promise of yours

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-to Ambassador Cambon!

-They probably do.

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It's just us poor devils that have been kept in the dark.

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Well, in fairness we've done well out of the agreement, too.

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It certainly doesn't feel that way.

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Oh, it has released us from having to patrol the Mediterranean, David.

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No, the PM is right.

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I could have asked for money for more dreadnoughts to patrol

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-the Mediterranean ourselves...

-Hear, hear.

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..and not leave it to the French, but I know what John Burns here

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-would have said to that.

-I know your game.

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You can't play it, though.

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Since Sir Edward has been Foreign Secretary

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he has assured Parliament on several occasions that this government

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has incurred no firm commitments to France.

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Indeed he has been proud, as we all have,

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that Great Britain has avoided those entanglements with foreign powers

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which could lead us, almost blind-folded, into war.

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Now he appears to be telling us that we do not possess

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the full liberty of our own decision-making after all,

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and that is a very serious thing.

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One could almost say he has misled us.

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You have misled yourselves.

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You all knew where the Anglo-French agreement was heading

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but none of you opened a conversation around this table.

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You did not want to know because you did not want the responsibility.

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You left Sir Edward with all of that,

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which might be called good judgment,

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but to bemoan it now is a kind of cowardice.

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How dare you!

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Some of what Winston says may be true.

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Even a blunderbuss does occasionally hit its target.

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But that does not answer the wider question of why we should follow

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France into a war brought about because her Russian allies

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decided to mobilise its entire army against such feeble Austrian

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opposition of all things. There's no sense of proportion there.

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The boy bloody scouts could defeat the Austrian army.

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That's a ridiculous comment.

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No, well, John comes from Battersea

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and they have some pretty ferocious boy scouts down there.

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But Russia? Gentlemen, please, are we to be led into a war by the Tsar?

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Let us not forget we are talking about the land of the pogrom

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-of the Siberian exile.

-It's rhetoric.

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Rhetoric! 10 days ago, over 100 working men were cut down

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on the streets of St Petersburg for the crime of joining a trade union.

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Wouldn't you be better off in Trafalgar Square

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with the Labour lot, howling this rot from an upturned soap box?

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You should get back to the Tory party.

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That is quite enough!

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We are here to talk about the French predicament.

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And what this government intends to do about it.

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I will say this, Prime Minister - I will accept some of the Cabinet's

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misgivings about the way the French negotiations have been handled...

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..by me. They were done in good faith,

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I assure you, but I will resign from the Cabinet this afternoon

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if it prevents me from signalling Britain's intentions to protect

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French ports in the event of a German naval attack on the Channel.

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If that happens, this government will be at an end.

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Why?

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Because I, and I suspect some others, will resign with him.

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And then you'll have the Tories in.

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Rubbish. They'll too busy gunrunning to Ulster.

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No, John, I assure you they will be able to form a government

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and they will have no qualms about taking this country

0:21:300:21:33

-into a European war.

-With conscription.

0:21:330:21:36

Those are the stakes, gentlemen.

0:21:360:21:38

Please think upon them when you answer this question.

0:21:380:21:41

Does Sir Edward have your authorisation to inform

0:21:440:21:48

Monsieur Cambon that we will honour our naval agreement with the French?

0:21:480:21:53

Those who say yes?

0:21:570:21:58

Those who say no?

0:22:050:22:06

And one abstention

0:22:110:22:14

Sir Edward, you may proceed.

0:22:170:22:20

In that case, Prime Minister,

0:22:210:22:23

I tender my resignation.

0:22:250:22:28

I implore you to reconsider, John.

0:22:320:22:34

I'm from the people, Edward, and I must speak for them

0:22:340:22:37

because their voices are never heard in the counsels of government.

0:22:370:22:41

That is why you should stay with us.

0:22:410:22:43

But the people don't want war.

0:22:430:22:45

That's why I'm having no part in taking us into one.

0:22:450:22:48

But most people aren't like you. They're more like Winston.

0:22:480:22:52

I don't think that's true.

0:22:540:22:55

But it's a pity if it is.

0:22:570:22:58

Well, it's held for now, Edward,

0:23:020:23:04

-but if we push them any further the Cabinet will divide.

-I know.

0:23:040:23:08

And if that happens the nation will divide, too.

0:23:080:23:11

What are you going to David? You're the most important man amongst us.

0:23:180:23:22

LLOYD GEORGE SCOFFS No, you are.

0:23:220:23:24

The millions of our fellow countrymen who wait to hear what

0:23:240:23:27

David Lloyd George says before they make up their own minds.

0:23:270:23:30

-I don't yet know.

-You will have to decide, and quickly.

0:23:310:23:35

I'm not sure I have the stomach for another peace campaign.

0:23:350:23:39

No-one will ask you to mount those platforms again.

0:23:390:23:41

You did your bit over South Africa,

0:23:410:23:43

let the younger men take up the burden this time.

0:23:430:23:45

But I tell you this, it will be a glorious thing for them to know

0:23:450:23:49

that Lloyd George is on their side.

0:23:490:23:51

We have been mislead, David. The whole country has.

0:23:520:23:56

It certainly looks that way.

0:23:570:23:58

Grey has run this nation's foreign policy without a single reference to

0:23:580:24:02

parliament, and now he expects us to pull his chestnuts out of the fire.

0:24:020:24:06

I will likely resign from the government...

0:24:110:24:15

if we enter this war.

0:24:150:24:17

Is the Fatherland in danger?

0:24:270:24:30

It is.

0:24:300:24:31

-Can we fight on two fronts?

-Easier than on one.

0:24:310:24:35

Say that again.

0:24:350:24:36

It is easier for us to fight on two fronts than on one.

0:24:360:24:39

This is what I hate in you, Moltke, your sophistry.

0:24:390:24:41

Keep it simple, Moltke, hm?

0:24:410:24:43

If we fight on one front against Russia, we must improvise

0:24:430:24:46

and that is always bad.

0:24:460:24:48

And all the time we will be watching over our shoulder for France.

0:24:480:24:52

If we fight on two fronts,

0:24:520:24:54

we enact a plan we have been working on for nine years.

0:24:540:24:57

The Schlieffen Plan.

0:24:570:24:59

Yes.

0:24:590:25:01

I thought the dust had settled on that.

0:25:010:25:03

We just keep blowing it away.

0:25:030:25:06

The Schlieffen Plan is always being updated, Your Majesty.

0:25:060:25:08

90% of our army will be thrown at France,

0:25:080:25:11

according to a strict timetable,

0:25:110:25:13

while the rest hold the Russians off, a relatively easy task

0:25:130:25:16

in the first six weeks of war.

0:25:160:25:18

-Six weeks?

-Yes, six weeks.

0:25:180:25:20

The time it will take to knock out France.

0:25:200:25:22

Then everything will be turned towards Russia.

0:25:220:25:26

The trains have already been ordered.

0:25:260:25:28

Six weeks to defeat France?

0:25:280:25:31

Our scouting parties will first see Paris 40 days into the war.

0:25:310:25:35

Imagine those fortunate few.

0:25:370:25:38

I know what you're going to say next

0:25:440:25:47

You're planning to go through Belgium. Isn't that so?

0:25:470:25:50

-A lovely idea, Your Majesty.

-Lovely?

0:25:500:25:52

Your Majesty, the great powers guarantee Belgium independence

0:25:540:25:57

not because we love each other, but because we fear each other.

0:25:570:26:00

-That's natural, of course.

-Natural? It's also efficient.

0:26:000:26:04

Respecting Belgian neutrality is what keeps us and the French

0:26:040:26:07

from garrotting each other.

0:26:070:26:08

And I am custodian of a treaty with the King of Belgium.

0:26:080:26:11

Which, tragically, you shall have to break.

0:26:110:26:14

Either Belgium steps aside or she is annihilated.

0:26:140:26:17

Or, we keep our treaty with Belgium and expose Germany to annihilation.

0:26:170:26:21

Success alone will justify what we do.

0:26:220:26:25

How would we begin to explain our violation of Belgian independence?

0:26:270:26:31

Something has already been arranged on that.

0:26:330:26:35

Five days before, our ambassador in Brussels had received

0:26:390:26:43

a mysterious package from Berlin.

0:26:430:26:45

"Do not open this telegram", an accompanying note said,

0:26:460:26:50

"and only open it if, and when, you receive a further instruction

0:26:500:26:55

"from Berlin."

0:26:550:26:56

Can you get me a whiskey, please?

0:26:560:26:58

They have all been considerably lengthened in the last five years.

0:27:280:27:31

I'm sorry. Are you finishing a conversation with someone else

0:27:310:27:36

or starting one with me?

0:27:360:27:37

Those north-western German railway platforms

0:27:370:27:40

-that you mentioned this morning.

-I mentioned those to you?

0:27:400:27:43

Well, you were thinking out loud, I was there.

0:27:430:27:45

So, I asked a friend at the Board of Trade to check his files.

0:27:450:27:48

The station platforms at Dueren are now half a mile long.

0:27:500:27:53

That's an awful lot of German holidaymakers suddenly very keen

0:27:550:27:58

to see the delights of Belgium.

0:27:580:28:00

Well Done.

0:28:010:28:03

Belgium.

0:28:030:28:04

Prepare for the deluge.

0:28:050:28:06

We have guaranteed Belgium's neutrality.

0:28:100:28:14

-HE LAUGHS

-Well done.

0:28:140:28:15

In perpetuity with Britain and France.

0:28:160:28:19

Haven't you seen how things are working here?

0:28:190:28:23

That treaty is just a scrap of paper.

0:28:230:28:25

'The last ever battle in history to be fought in Belgium

0:28:300:28:33

'would be Waterloo.

0:28:330:28:35

'That was the epic idea contained in the treaty

0:28:370:28:39

'signed by the Great Powers in 1839.'

0:28:390:28:42

'But, evidently, it was not an idea that meant much to General Moltke.'

0:28:480:28:53

Now is the time!

0:28:530:28:54

-Sir Edward.

-I know. Ah!

0:29:050:29:07

Yes, the German ambassador arrived some time ago.

0:29:070:29:10

And the French ambassador is also here.

0:29:100:29:12

-Any more?

-And I must have a moment with you also.

0:29:120:29:15

Later.

0:29:150:29:17

Sir Edward, forgive me for barging in like this, but...

0:29:180:29:21

Yes, indeed. Unexpected.

0:29:210:29:22

I do apologise, Prince Lichnowsky, but I feel I should

0:29:240:29:29

fulfil my appointment with the French ambassador.

0:29:290:29:33

You've done the right thing.

0:29:480:29:50

And what of a British expeditionary force?

0:29:510:29:55

Just two divisions on their way to France would have

0:29:550:29:58

a tremendous moral effect on our people.

0:29:580:30:00

-Paul!

-And a deterrent effect on Germany too.

0:30:000:30:03

Yeah, I know that's not a serious suggestion.

0:30:030:30:05

But it is. Germany will declare war on France in the next 24 hours.

0:30:050:30:11

All France knows it.

0:30:110:30:12

The one thing that might stop them is you.

0:30:140:30:17

You credit Britain with too much power, Paul,

0:30:170:30:20

and it has made you irresponsible.

0:30:200:30:22

It is you who can stop it.

0:30:220:30:24

You alone.

0:30:250:30:26

The power is yours.

0:30:280:30:29

CLOCK TICKS

0:30:380:30:40

Whom did I say was next?

0:31:020:31:03

Sir, before you see Prince Lichnowsky,

0:31:030:31:06

you must see this. Please.

0:31:060:31:09

Are you sure?

0:31:210:31:22

I'm 100% sure about the recent lengthening

0:31:220:31:25

of the railway platforms, and I'm 95% sure that German troops

0:31:250:31:29

are heading towards the Belgian border.

0:31:290:31:32

But can we be certain they intend to cross into Belgium?

0:31:320:31:36

Might there not be an innocent explanation for all this activity?

0:31:360:31:39

Certainly there might. I can't think what it would be. But...

0:31:400:31:46

Well, why don't I just ask him?

0:31:460:31:48

Of course, after last night, we can't afford a second misunderstanding.

0:31:510:31:55

I take full responsibility for that.

0:31:550:31:58

Please don't. I rather think we egged each other on.

0:31:580:32:00

The damn telephone, too. The thing was invented to make fools of us.

0:32:000:32:06

-It's not created difficulties for you?

-Hmm, none.

0:32:060:32:09

-Yourself?

-I don't know.

0:32:090:32:12

No, I don't think so.

0:32:120:32:14

May I ask you an awkward question?

0:32:140:32:17

If I may reserve the option of pretending I didn't hear it.

0:32:170:32:19

What would you say

0:32:220:32:24

if I told you I have certain reasons to believe

0:32:240:32:29

that someone in Germany...

0:32:290:32:31

..someone in a high command, is contemplating an invasion of Belgium?

0:32:320:32:37

I would say that is impossible. We have a treaty with Belgium,

0:32:370:32:40

-as you do.

-But Belgium is a back door to Paris.

0:32:400:32:44

Belgium is a sovereign country.

0:32:440:32:46

-Mm-hmm. It is the back door to Paris.

-It is also a back door to Berlin.

0:32:460:32:50

Belgium makes us all honest.

0:32:520:32:54

It makes the French honest, it makes Germany honest.

0:32:540:32:57

To violate Belgian sovereignty would be madness.

0:32:570:33:02

We have received reports in the last 24 hours

0:33:090:33:13

of French troops along the Givet-Namur road...

0:33:130:33:17

..and therefore,

0:33:180:33:20

in the light of this violation of your territory,

0:33:200:33:25

and of the 1839 treaty, we are obliged to request

0:33:250:33:29

of the Belgian government free access for our own troops

0:33:290:33:33

to engage the French.

0:33:330:33:34

You have 12 hours to respond.

0:33:410:33:42

-This will be our casus belli.

-It might be.

0:33:470:33:50

It's an immaculate one, too.

0:33:500:33:52

No oil reserves, no coaling stations, no gold fields.

0:33:520:33:56

Just poor little Belgium at the mercy of the German juggernaut.

0:33:560:34:01

Even the radicals will be filled with indignation.

0:34:010:34:04

If Germany invades.

0:34:040:34:07

The legal situation is not altogether clear.

0:34:070:34:11

We would probably still need an official request for assistance

0:34:110:34:15

from the Belgian government to avoid breaching the same treaty.

0:34:150:34:20

We cannot be more Belgian than the Belgians.

0:34:200:34:23

-Surely they will ask for our help.

-I have no idea.

0:34:230:34:26

It's possible the Belgian army will simply fire a token shot

0:34:260:34:32

and then line the roads while the German army passes through.

0:34:320:34:36

"If we are to be crushed" said the Belgian King,

0:34:430:34:47

"let us be crushed gloriously."

0:34:470:34:50

That night his Government had resolved

0:34:500:34:51

"to repel every attack on its right."

0:34:510:34:54

And King Albert himself composed a personal appeal to the Kaiser,

0:34:550:34:59

translated by his German wife.

0:34:590:35:02

But there was no cry for help directed to London.

0:35:110:35:13

Not yet.

0:35:170:35:18

And I'll be honest with you.

0:35:220:35:24

Not one man here wanted it to come.

0:35:240:35:26

What would they say if they truly knew

0:35:420:35:44

what was happening to their world?

0:35:440:35:46

Tell me, Winston,

0:35:460:35:49

what does it take to lead a democracy into war?

0:35:490:35:52

I do not know. It's never been done before.

0:35:530:35:56

We would be the first, in Europe at any rate.

0:35:580:36:01

It means seeking the approval of those who are going to die in it,

0:36:010:36:04

I suppose. Our forebears never had that problem.

0:36:040:36:07

And we record their names now. Of those who fall, I mean.

0:36:080:36:13

It makes it so personal.

0:36:150:36:17

Have you told your parents?

0:36:170:36:19

I haven't had the time.

0:36:190:36:20

You ought to.

0:36:230:36:24

I'm their only son, Muriel.

0:36:260:36:27

They'd be horrified if they knew that I was thinking of volunteering.

0:36:290:36:34

-But they'll have to know eventually.

-No, not necessarily.

0:36:340:36:38

It may still blow over.

0:36:380:36:40

It might not come to war.

0:36:420:36:43

So, Germany has requested free movement of her troops

0:36:510:36:54

across Belgium and so far, Belgium has refused to give it,

0:36:540:36:58

and has not asked for our assistance and may never do so.

0:36:580:37:03

So, we are where we were.

0:37:030:37:06

Except one power has signalled its intention

0:37:060:37:09

to break a venerable treaty.

0:37:090:37:12

What was that shrug for? Do these things not matter?

0:37:120:37:15

Words on paper, composed long ago.

0:37:150:37:18

Words have to mean something.

0:37:180:37:20

Otherwise, all that remains is the cannon.

0:37:200:37:22

And let us think of France.

0:37:220:37:25

I know you don't want to, but consider her position.

0:37:250:37:28

Cowardice won't save her now.

0:37:280:37:30

She is about to be overwhelmed by the might of the German Army,

0:37:300:37:34

whether she fights or not.

0:37:340:37:35

Words do have to mean something, of course they do.

0:37:350:37:39

But let us not pretend

0:37:390:37:41

that our own ill-chosen words would not have awesome consequences

0:37:410:37:46

for millions of our countrymen.

0:37:460:37:48

We can fill this room with noble thoughts about treaties honoured

0:37:480:37:53

and solemn promises kept.

0:37:530:37:56

We can flatter ourselves that we are the custodians of international law

0:37:560:38:00

and that Germany is a nation of brigands.

0:38:000:38:02

But think, think, gentlemen,

0:38:020:38:07

think of the consequences that would flow from such high-mindedness.

0:38:070:38:11

We have not fought a European war for several generations

0:38:110:38:15

and, necessarily, we've forgotten what it is like to do so,

0:38:150:38:19

and this makes us brave and frivolous.

0:38:190:38:22

How does an army of several million men

0:38:240:38:27

defeat another army of several million men

0:38:270:38:30

with all the metal they have these days at their disposal?

0:38:300:38:34

None of us knows, not even the generals, although they pretend to.

0:38:340:38:38

If the European nations come to blows tonight,

0:38:380:38:41

or in the next few days,

0:38:410:38:43

I foresee a calamity lasting years.

0:38:430:38:48

It will be a war without victors,

0:38:480:38:51

which is the worst war imaginable,

0:38:510:38:54

because the immense expense of blood will, in the end, be for nothing.

0:38:540:39:00

HE SIGHS

0:39:090:39:10

Edward?

0:39:120:39:13

That's why I understand the temptation of neutrality.

0:39:150:39:19

We're human beings and therefore, the temptation's almost irresistible.

0:39:210:39:26

But our friend here talks as though there will be no calamity

0:39:260:39:30

if we stood aside and let Belgian pleas for help,

0:39:300:39:35

should they come, fall on deaf ears.

0:39:350:39:37

Well...

0:39:370:39:39

what about the political calamity?

0:39:390:39:42

And what about the moral calamity? What would happen to our good name?

0:39:420:39:46

Who would ever trust us again?

0:39:460:39:49

We would have sacrificed every friend and every interest

0:39:490:39:53

simply to preserve ourselves.

0:39:530:39:56

And what would lay before us when that European war had ended?

0:39:570:40:02

A scarred continent, to be sure,

0:40:020:40:05

with all the human destruction our friend has foretold -

0:40:050:40:10

not Englishmen, it is true, but our neighbours.

0:40:100:40:15

And this too -

0:40:180:40:21

we would face a continent under the dominion of a solitary power.

0:40:210:40:27

And that a military one, dedicated to blood and iron.

0:40:270:40:31

We have an obligation to France,

0:40:340:40:38

unwritten perhaps,

0:40:380:40:39

also to Belgium - very much written.

0:40:390:40:43

Does that not mean something?

0:40:430:40:46

Let every man here search his own heart and decide for himself

0:40:490:40:55

whether he feels the pull of those obligations.

0:40:550:40:58

I do.

0:40:590:41:01

I will presently go to the House of Commons

0:41:010:41:04

and make the case for supporting our allies if it should come to war.

0:41:040:41:10

Then I should resign.

0:41:100:41:12

What can I expect if I stay on?

0:41:140:41:16

Everlasting quarrels with Winston, certainly,

0:41:170:41:21

but also, with respect...

0:41:210:41:24

..I would be putting my name to a policy that is fundamentally wrong.

0:41:250:41:30

It's sad, but...

0:41:330:41:35

..this government is folding.

0:41:370:41:39

Now I have four resignations.

0:41:430:41:45

Beauchamp and Simon joined John Burns earlier this morning.

0:41:450:41:50

David Lloyd George.

0:41:510:41:53

What is your policy?

0:41:540:41:56

I would impress on Germany the importance of Belgian neutrality.

0:41:580:42:04

And if Germany is not impressed?

0:42:040:42:06

And Belgium fails to ask for our help,

0:42:060:42:11

would you commit to war for the sake of France?

0:42:110:42:14

No.

0:42:190:42:21

-You'll need half an hour to yourself, Edward?

-Uh?

0:42:300:42:34

-Before you address the House.

-Ah, yes, I would appreciate that.

0:42:340:42:37

Sir Edward! Sir Edward!

0:42:370:42:40

I have just been instructed by my government to inform you

0:42:410:42:44

that the German fleet will not operate in the English Channel

0:42:440:42:47

if Britain remains neutral.

0:42:470:42:49

Isn't that encouraging?

0:42:490:42:51

Is there not something there for you?

0:42:510:42:54

Not really.

0:42:540:42:56

What if Germany were to abide by her treaty obligations to Belgium?

0:42:560:43:00

Would Britain then agree to neutrality?

0:43:000:43:02

-No.

-No?!

0:43:020:43:04

Max, I have no idea if you were authorised to ask that question,

0:43:040:43:08

I rather suspect you were not,

0:43:080:43:10

but even if you were, I would still be required to say, "No".

0:43:100:43:15

But that is irrational.

0:43:150:43:17

My dear friend, I rather think it is you

0:43:170:43:19

who is no longer seeing things clearly.

0:43:190:43:21

I'm offering you a formula...to save us.

0:43:210:43:25

You're asking Britain to reward Germany

0:43:250:43:28

with a free hand against France

0:43:280:43:31

merely for fulfilling its legal and moral obligations to Belgium.

0:43:310:43:35

I cannot do that.

0:43:350:43:36

Anyway, how do I know you will abide by your agreement?

0:43:360:43:38

-I...

-No, no, no, not you - your chiefs.

0:43:380:43:42

They could still march through Belgium tomorrow

0:43:420:43:44

and wreck Britain's relations with France forever

0:43:440:43:48

by publishing the text of some agreement struck between you and me.

0:43:480:43:52

Then, for God's sake, state the conditions

0:43:520:43:55

under which Britain will remain neutral.

0:43:550:43:57

I will not do that either.

0:43:570:43:59

Please help me. There must be something you can insist on.

0:43:590:44:03

That you do not go to war with France.

0:44:030:44:05

Germany will declare war on France this afternoon.

0:44:100:44:15

Will you go through Belgium?

0:44:230:44:24

I don't know.

0:44:240:44:26

Perhaps a corner will be clipped, I don't know.

0:44:280:44:32

You'll excuse me.

0:44:370:44:39

I have an address to make to the House of Commons.

0:44:400:44:43

'Soon after Grey's address, Germany declared war on France.

0:44:530:44:58

'Some pretext was invented -

0:44:580:45:00

'a French aerial attack on Nuremberg, I think.

0:45:000:45:04

'It wasn't true - certainly, nobody in Nuremberg saw it.'

0:45:040:45:08

Sir, I've the latest despatches from Berlin and Brussels.

0:45:090:45:13

Come here for a moment, and look at this.

0:45:130:45:16

I've always loved this sight on a summer's evening.

0:45:190:45:22

I find it inexpressibly consoling.

0:45:220:45:25

And I want it to last forever.

0:45:260:45:28

You'll be told there isn't a better time to be young

0:45:310:45:35

and that you are the envy of those too old to fight.

0:45:350:45:40

Perhaps that's true.

0:45:430:45:45

Perhaps.

0:45:460:45:47

You know, the lamps are going out all over Europe.

0:45:480:45:53

We may not see them lit again in our lifetime.

0:45:550:45:59

'By mid-morning, our 34th Brigade

0:46:240:46:26

'had crossed the border into Belgium.'

0:46:260:46:29

HE SHOUTS

0:46:320:46:33

GUNFIRE

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'And King Albert of Belgium asked his parliament,

0:46:380:46:41

' "Are we still committed to our independence?"

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' "Yes, yes!", came the reply.'

0:46:460:46:49

'The King of the Belgians then made his appeal

0:46:490:46:51

'to all the guarantors of Belgian neutrality.'

0:46:510:46:55

These are the translations, two copies of each, please, Muriel.

0:46:550:46:58

Is this it, do you think?

0:46:580:47:00

'We heard it at midday.'

0:47:000:47:02

David.

0:47:100:47:12

Prime Minister.

0:47:120:47:13

I do not think that we are prepared for war.

0:47:190:47:23

The Governor of the Bank of England assures me that we will be

0:47:230:47:26

very quickly bankrupt as a nation if we take up arms against Germany.

0:47:260:47:30

And although he exaggerates somewhat, he is undoubtedly correct

0:47:320:47:36

in saying that, as a mercantile nation,

0:47:360:47:38

we shall suffer more than most

0:47:380:47:39

because of the agonies to international trade.

0:47:390:47:42

I believe also there are some people in this country,

0:47:430:47:46

possibly even around this table,

0:47:460:47:48

who will have been delighted by the Kaiser's decision to violate

0:47:480:47:53

Belgian sovereignty this morning for the simple reason

0:47:530:47:57

that it coats their own selfish enthusiasm

0:47:570:48:00

for war with a moral gloss.

0:48:000:48:02

However...

0:48:030:48:05

..I differ from my now departed colleagues.

0:48:070:48:10

I am genuinely frightened by the prospect of a rampant Germany

0:48:110:48:16

sitting in Brussels and Paris and on the Channel coast.

0:48:160:48:20

Do I care for Belgium?

0:48:210:48:23

I fear for her, certainly.

0:48:240:48:27

She is a small nation like my own -

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and she has rights, which cannot be eradicated

0:48:320:48:36

just because the eradicator is strong.

0:48:360:48:39

Do I care for the principle

0:48:390:48:41

that international law ought to mean something?

0:48:410:48:45

Yes, I do.

0:48:460:48:48

There ought to be more of it, not less.

0:48:480:48:51

The German invasion of Belgium has changed everything for me.

0:48:520:48:58

The only sensible thing now is for this government

0:49:000:49:04

to send an ultimatum to the aggressors in Berlin.

0:49:040:49:08

Is there anyone who disagrees with that last sentence?

0:49:150:49:19

Well, there will be no opposition from the Conservatives or the Irish Nationalists,

0:49:210:49:26

I very much hope there will no opposition from our own people.

0:49:260:49:30

-Just one thing, Prime Minister.

-Yes.

0:49:300:49:33

Do you not think we ought to consult the Dominion governments

0:49:330:49:35

before we issue an ultimatum? The Australians and the Canadians

0:49:350:49:38

will have their own thoughts on this, I'm quite certain.

0:49:380:49:40

There is no constitutional need.

0:49:400:49:43

They will see it as we see it.

0:49:430:49:47

'You did the right thing.'

0:49:540:49:56

None of us will survive this war.

0:49:580:50:00

Politically, I mean.

0:50:010:50:02

'Within the hour, the British government had drafted its ultimatum

0:50:070:50:11

'to the Kaiser demanding the complete withdrawal

0:50:110:50:14

'of all German troops from Belgium by midnight.'

0:50:140:50:18

'That was midnight, Berlin time.

0:50:240:50:26

'But the mind of our government was made up.'

0:50:290:50:32

What we are doing to Belgium, we have been forced to do.

0:50:330:50:39

Necessity knows no law.

0:50:390:50:41

Good - necessity knows no law. That is right.

0:50:420:50:47

If we think like magistrates, we are dead.

0:50:470:50:50

The British think like magistrates.

0:50:500:50:53

Legalism, not justice.

0:50:530:50:54

They care nothing for Belgium or the treaty.

0:50:540:50:57

They only care for power.

0:50:570:50:58

And how they hate it when we show our appetite to be equal with theirs.

0:50:590:51:03

What do you say, Bethmann?

0:51:050:51:07

Our army must hack its way through Belgium.

0:51:130:51:16

'I believe it was Rousseau who said,

0:51:160:51:18

' "It is a sort of folly to remain wise

0:51:180:51:21

' "in the midst of those who are mad." '

0:51:210:51:24

'And on those 37 days, Germany was short of that kind of folly.'

0:51:250:51:30

Can you take it next door?

0:51:330:51:34

I hear you've decided to join the Royal Field Artillery.

0:51:430:51:47

I have, sir.

0:51:470:51:48

I think I'll be losing a lot of my young men.

0:51:560:51:59

Thank you.

0:52:100:52:12

Have you received orders to report to your regiment yet?

0:52:120:52:15

Not yet, sir.

0:52:170:52:19

But you will.

0:52:190:52:20

I expect so, sir, yes.

0:52:220:52:24

It's not a bad life, the soldiering life.

0:52:290:52:31

Yes, sir.

0:52:330:52:34

But I don't think you'll fall in love with it.

0:52:350:52:38

I've never seen myself as a soldier, like some boys do.

0:52:400:52:44

I always hoped that, under my stewardship,

0:52:480:52:51

we would see Germany turn into a state with an army,

0:52:510:52:55

rather than the other way around.

0:52:550:52:57

The Prime Minister is in there.

0:53:140:53:16

-And Winston...

-Of course.

0:53:160:53:19

You carry this burden alone.

0:53:200:53:22

Yes.

0:53:230:53:25

You once criticised me for that.

0:53:250:53:27

"Too many secrets," you said.

0:53:270:53:29

It's how the game is played, I understand that.

0:53:290:53:32

But it is too punishing for one man.

0:53:340:53:37

All your successes - we know virtually nothing about,

0:53:370:53:41

they must remain private. Otherwise, they are not successes at all.

0:53:410:53:44

But your failures...

0:53:440:53:46

they become common property, they belong to the world.

0:53:460:53:50

There is surely no hiding place from all the scorn

0:53:500:53:54

and vilification that follow.

0:53:540:53:56

I suppose that there comes a time in a war diplomacy

0:53:590:54:02

when nothing is left standing except principle?

0:54:020:54:06

CLOCK TICKS

0:54:060:54:08

CLOCK CHIMES

0:54:200:54:23

Perhaps I should have travelled more.

0:54:270:54:29

Officially, you mean?

0:54:290:54:31

Officially, personally, both.

0:54:310:54:34

I've never once set foot in Germany.

0:54:340:54:36

I don't think that matters.

0:54:360:54:37

I could have taken my own measure of the place.

0:54:370:54:39

That's what the Foreign Office is for.

0:54:390:54:41

The world dissected by experts in every field,

0:54:410:54:46

its vital organs displayed and explained.

0:54:460:54:50

Now, all those organs are failing.

0:54:500:54:53

What will it be like, do you think?

0:54:580:55:02

I haven't given it much thought.

0:55:040:55:06

Not the military side of things.

0:55:060:55:08

Well, you've lacked the time.

0:55:080:55:10

I've lacked the experience too.

0:55:100:55:13

We all lack that.

0:55:130:55:15

Except Winston.

0:55:150:55:17

Did he ever told you about his charge with the 21st Lancers

0:55:180:55:22

at the Battle of Omdurman?

0:55:220:55:24

I think he did tell me about it once.

0:55:240:55:26

What?

0:55:290:55:31

I think perhaps this war will be a little different.

0:55:330:55:38

CLOCK CHIMES THE HOUR

0:55:400:55:45

'Ours became the war of the spade.

0:56:100:56:12

'The first trenches were dug in the Marne Valley

0:56:130:56:16

'at the end of August 1914.'

0:56:160:56:18

CLOCK KEEPS CHIMING

0:56:180:56:21

There was no '40-day war'.

0:56:220:56:24

No triumphant gallop to Paris,

0:56:250:56:27

just a murderous

0:56:270:56:28

and terrifying stalemate.

0:56:280:56:32

And, of course, the war spread.

0:56:320:56:35

It spread to the Middle East,

0:56:350:56:37

to Asia, to Africa - and beyond.

0:56:370:56:41

It became the First World War.

0:56:410:56:44

By 1918, four Empires were in ruins

0:56:440:56:48

and four royal dynasties ended.

0:56:480:56:52

The face of our continent was changed by revolution.

0:56:520:56:55

And death, it seemed, could never claim too many.

0:56:570:57:00

It was always hungry for more.

0:57:010:57:03

'10 million died.'

0:57:050:57:07

It's too many for the mind to conceive.

0:57:100:57:13

Every single one of them mourned by people who loved them

0:57:130:57:18

and missed them,

0:57:180:57:21

with grief consuming half the world.

0:57:210:57:23

Here's a funny thing.

0:57:260:57:27

Austria and Russia,

0:57:290:57:32

whose quarrel in the Balkans had taken everybody else to the edge,

0:57:320:57:36

they were the last to declare war on each other.

0:57:360:57:40

And when they did...

0:57:400:57:42

..nobody really noticed.

0:57:450:57:47

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